Braun status for Wednesday TBD

Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun’s availability for Wednesday’s series finale against the Cardinals was up in the air after he re-aggravated a lingering right groin strain in Tuesday’s win.

Braun has been receiving treatment for that ailment since it sidelined him a couple of games in Spring Training, and felt a recurrence of discomfort while chasing a John Jay double in the third inning. He remained in the game until the seventh, when Braun exited as part of a double switch.

“I’ve had it all year, off and on,” Braun said. “I try to manage as best I can. I think the issue is always when you get to the point you feel like you can make it a lot worse. If someone hit a fly ball to left field, I didn’t feel like I could sprint. That’s never a good feeling.”

You could see that in the fifth inning, when Braun appeared to pull up while fielding Rafael Furcal’s base hit.

Speaking of bad feelings, Braun was watching from the training room when his spot in the batting order came up after he’d left the game — in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded, two outs and the Brewers leading, 3-2. Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa grounded out to end the Brewers’ threat.

Braun went 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts on Tuesday and is 1-for-7 in the series. He leads the National League in homers, with 26.

“We’ll see how it is [Wednesday],” he said, referring to the teams’ afternoon series finale. “I’m always hopeful.”

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The Royals recently demoted Jonathan Sanchez who has been struggling. He is still a relatively young pitcher who had some success while with the Giants. Might it be possible that a return to the NL could make a difference? With all due respect to Thornburg and others, shouldn’t the Crew make a claim on Sanchez? Marcum isn’t back yet, Greinke might still be traded don’t we want some ML ready alternatives? We’d only be on the hook for a pro-rated $480,000 if he rejects his assignment. Doesn’t it make sense to reach out?

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